OBJECTIVESThis study sought to report long-term clinical outcomes in patients treated with the provisional T-stenting and small protrusion (TAP) technique.

BACKGROUNDSeveral strategies have been proposed for treating bifurcation lesions, each with its own merits and technical challenges. The TAP technique is a relatively new strategy that is technically less challenging, ensures complete coverage of the side-branch ostium, and minimizes stent overlap. Although there is reasonable amount of data for other bifurcation strategies, the long-term clinical outcomes for TAP technique are limited.

METHODSWe retrospectively evaluated all patients who underwent TAP technique with drug-eluting stents between July 2005 and January 2012. The measured endpoints at follow-up were major adverse cardiac events defined as composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization.

RESULTSA total of 95 patients (81.1% men) with a mean age of 64.8 years underwent TAP stenting. Procedural success was achieved in 100% of cases. True bifurcation was observed in 75 (78.9%) patients. First-generation drug-eluting stents were used in 55.8% of patients. The outcome rates at 3-year follow-up of major adverse cardiac events, cardiac death/follow-up myocardial infarction, target vessel revascularization, and target lesion revascularization were 12.9%, 3.1%, 9.7%, and 5.1%, respectively. There were no cases of follow-up myocardial infarction or stent thrombosis (definite and probable).

CONCLUSIONSThese results demonstrate that TAP technique is associated with acceptable clinical outcomes with no episodes of definite and probable stent thrombosis. Further studies should compare TAP technique with other 2-stent strategies.